Crosby, Stills and Nash Ask to Have Music Removed from Spotify amid 'Dangerous' COVID Disinformation

The rockers join former bandmate Neil Young and others like Joni Mitchell in the request, which stems from Joe Rogan's podcast

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash in 2015. Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty

Crosby, Stills and Nash have joined former bandmate Neil Young in asking that their music be removed from Spotify over concerns regarding misinformation being shared on Joe Rogan's podcast.

The legendary trio — who split in 2015 — reunited to issue a joint statement on Wednesday that declared their concerns in having their catalog share the same platform as the "dangerous disinformation" being touted by Rogan.

"We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify's Joe Rogan podcast," the statement read. "While we always value alternative points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don't want our music — or the music we made together — to be on the same platform."

Crosby, 80, later tweeted that he has not "and will not demand anything" from Spotify or from Rogan, and simply doesn't "want to be in the same market right next to some rotten fruit."

"There are people worse than Rogan …Tucker leaps to mind but there are many people selling outrage by lying …I despise all of them ….they know they are lying ,,, causing harm …but they do it anyway for bucks," he wrote. "I just don't want my music on there if he's on there so I'm taking mine off …that is not censorship."

In a movement that's since caught on with other artists like Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren and India.Arie, Neil Young was the first to vocalize his feelings on the issue, giving Spotify an ultimatum last month that they either choose his music or Rogan's podcast, which is Spotify's top podcast.

"Most of the listeners hearing the unfactual, misleading and false COVID information on Spotify are 24 years old, impressionable and easy to swing to the wrong side of the truth," the musician wrote in a letter on his website. "These young people believe Spotify would never present grossly unfactual information. They unfortunately are wrong. I knew I had to try to point that out."

Rogan, who has claimed he is not an anti-vaxxer, has discouraged vaccinations in young people and children, falsely claiming that mRNA vaccines are "gene therapy," and promoting off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID, which the FDA has previously warned against.

Neil Young and Joe Rogan. getty (2)

Amid the criticism, Rogan said in an Instagram video that he would make more of an effort to "balance out" the controversial opinions on his show.

"My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people's perspectives, so that we can maybe find a better point of view," he said. "I don't want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so that we can all figure what's going on..."

Spotify — who reportedly paid about $100 million to acquire the Joe Rogan Experience — later announced plans to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes discussion about COVID-19. The response came amid calls from others, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, to address the "serious harms" caused by COVID misinformation.

"This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a news release.

Still, during an earnings call on Wednesday, Elk said that Spotify would not "change our policies based on one creator nor do we change it based on any media cycle, or calls from anyone else," according to The New York Times.

"Our policies have been carefully written with the input from numbers of internal and external experts in this space," Elk reportedly said. "And I do believe they're right for our platform. And while Joe has a massive audience — he is actually the No. 1 podcast in more than 90 markets — he also has to abide by those policies."